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I am ashamed of John Boehner

John Boehner has effectively ended his Speakership this week. I join most republicans in feeling shame that he is our party’s highest ranking leader. The reason we should feel so disgusted by Boehner’s actions is because he is going to sell out his and our principles while hurting the economy and losing politically. He is going to hand the President the perfect political trifecta of ideology, policy and political wins.

For over twenty years, Republicans have been the party that won’t raise your taxes. Suddenly, following Obama’s re-election, Boehner threw in the towel and signaled that he would support taxes. Now HE, the REPUBLICAN LEADER is advocating that WE RAISE taxes on millionaire Americans.

President Obama won about 10 of 12 swing states. He won the majorities in each of those states. But that doesn’t represent the majority of the popular vote of America. The closest that we get to an accurate reading of popular opinion in the electorate, is Congressional elections district by district. Thus, the people’s House is a better representation of the will of the American people than the winner of the Electoral College. Republicans won. Republicans in the House control the money and speak for the people. Giving this ground to the President has been a deadly mistake for Boehner and could spell out the beginning of the end of his Speakership.

Boehner somehow thinks that he is between a rock and a hard place and that he has no choice but to appease the President. The reality couldn’t be farther from the truth. Obama’s first defeat came when House Republicans united in solidarity to oppose his Stimulus package in 2009. That was the impetus for defeating him in the 2010 midterms.

Boehner somehow believes that the most accommodating party will win this debate, but they won’t. To the victors go the spoils. Boehner has given in on tax raises and has shown a willingness to work together, but this has only emboldened Obama. Obama is back with a vengeance – a confidence not yet seen in this President and he is going to bend the Republicans to his will. That is his obvious goal. He smells blood and he is looking to get everything he wants with Republican signatures all over it and so far it’s working.

Just today, Boehner’s friend, Obama, practically mocked him at his press conference asking why those making $900k a year should be getting a tax break. Obama is in rare form since the election he seems to be making sport of Boehner’s weakness.

There is still time to recover on this entire front. Let Boehner throw his speakership away on a bad deal. But the Republican Caucus could oppose this. There is absolutely no benefit in it. It raises taxes, doesn’t fix the debt, and loses politically. This is a nightmare scenario for republican politicians. Every single Republican should oppose this deal. Let leadership join Democrats in trying to get to 218, but they won’t have enough votes. Break Boehner. It is time to break him politically. Send him back to Ohio. We need people that speak for the Caucus, not people that speak against it. The Establishment lost the House in 2006, but the Tea Party won it back. They are in control. They need to be righting this ship.

Any R that votes for a tax increase on anyone has to be primary-ed. They have to.

No more cute talk. Tax raising is the one thing we should never do. If an R won’t fight tax increases, what will he do? If raising taxes is a hard question what is an easy one? These guys aren’t worth their salt if this is what they call a good deal.

This is the fight we want to have with the President. The President overplayed his hand this week when he refused a tax increase compromise. Now he says it isn’t a good enough deal for him if we only raise taxes on millionaires and billionaires, we have to raise them on anyone he considers wealthy. But the HOUSE CONTROLS THE PURSE STRINGS. It is time for House Republicans to break this President.

He wants to go over the cliff. Fine, let him. We will go and see who will be blamed.

If we vote for a tax increase, we WILL lose politically, it will be a huge victory for the President.

If we vote for a tax increase it WILL be a huge policy mistake as taxes will go up on people with the most excess capital to spend. Obama wants to tax people making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, yet these are the people trying to become millionaires. These are the Americans that are still hungry and still working hard to make more money by growing their businesses and thus increasing jobs.

If we vote for a tax increase it WILL be a huge ideological loss. It will not only throw out the only really good thing that Bush ever did, it will create a new status quo where rich Americans are that much closer to paying almost half of their earnings in income tax. This is preposterous.

We have to be the party of low taxes. We will not be punished at the polls for doing so. This is an issue that can’t lose. Obama’s sizable majority isn’t large enough to punish us for standing up for what is right on the tax and spend issue.

It is time for Boehner to stand up for what he said he would stand up for when he got into office. But if he won’t, it is time for him to go. He has shamed us enough already. I don’t advocate us forcibly removing him. But we need to send the message that he can no longer deliver votes and that he is out of the mainstream of the rest of the party. We need to send a demonstrative “no confidence” vote. He is shaming the party, ruining the Republican brand and hurting American with this deal.

It’s time to back away from this deal and allow Obama to take us over the cliff. We won’t eliminate deductions, we won’t tax higher than 35%. Deal. Done. Go home and celebrate Jesus’ birth.